In the beginning of the century we heard many versions about the end of the quota era. We did not hear anyone telling us that Bulgaria will not be affected by the end of the Multifiber agreement. Indeed there were companies in Bulgaria that closed after 1st of January 2005. Those created by Greek and Turkish entrepreneurs for quota reasons or engaged in the CM knitwear production left only the memories of locked factories and violation of workers rights.

The majority of the Bulgarian companies and the European subsidiaries did not suffer seriously. There were some companies that had to reposition their sales from the North American market to Europe but that happened in about 3 months time. After the 1% loss of exports at the end of 2005, the country is now back to business with 14.2 % increase for the first four months of 2006.

With fast fashion developments in Europe, Bulgarian medium sized companies have the best position among all countries in the region. Romanian big factories will continue to serve the mass market needs. Turkey, standing in front of the door of the EU will face domestic problems....